Thai, Thai, again!

From the night of Jan. 1, 2016

Three weeks ago I was introduced to Thai food for the first time by my two college best friends; Kass and Ashna. I've never had anything like it before and it really opened up a world of new flavor combinations for me.

For those who may not know, or are simply interested, Thai food focuses on a symphonic blend of flavors that include bitter, sour, salty, sweet, as well as umami. What I love about this food is that each dish has such a complex balance of flavors that each bite is almost different than the last but the overall taste is just satisfying.

Last night I met with a Singaporean native by the name of Preya. She has been someone I followed on Twitter for a long time and we decided to meet up on a fine New Year Evening so she could show me Singapore from the local perspective. She loves Thai food and so took me to a place called Thai Express in Holland Village. The place was adorned with an orange elephants and the combination of whites, blacks, and silvers of the restaurant were a only a precursor of the flavor harmony of the food to come.

I perused through the menu and I was overwhelmed by the options to say the least. After Preya finished her barrage of jokes about my accent and my lack of Singaporean street knowledge, she decided to get the Tom Yum Hor Fun. I selected the Thai Sukiyaki Nam. The picture showed a beautiful orange curry soup with seafood placed in the middle framed by vegetables. What’s more was that it had 3 little spice emojis next to it and a cute elephant with the word “popular” written under it. Haphazardly, I also asked for a Chiangmai Mango blend drink, because, come on, I’m Pakistani.

When the waiter came with the white bowl filled with goodness, I knew I made the right choice. The aromas tickled my nose. The tanginess and spices could be inhaled and I could not wait to dig in. But pictures first of course.

I grabbed the chopsticks and spun around the concoction of spices, seafood, and noodles to see what treasures were covered by the soup. The curry revealed bits of crab, slices of squid, shrimp, and fish. At this point my mouth was watering and if I’m being honest with y’all my mouth is watering right now reliving this food from last night through this post.

Anyway, so my chopsticks loop around some noodles and latch on to this piece of squid I had been eyeing and let me tell you when I took a bite of that dish all the flavors just rushed into my mouth like the flavor flood gates were being opened. The food wasn’t triple spice emoji spice but the heat was there. The savory umami flavor from the squid and crab was infused into the sauce. The noodle were the perfect texture partner to the crunchy leaves. I mean just look at the picture and imagine all of this. The Mango blend drink…well like I said it was a no brainer. The sweet, thick drink matched perfectly opposite of the Sukiyaki. It was cool and refreshing; almost like a palette cleanser with a fruit bonus.

The best part about eating in Singapore is the portions are so large you always get a bang for your buck. I ate until I was full and had the rest packaged. After heating it up this morning, man it was still just as good. I am totally going to go back to Thai Express very soon to try out some new dishes or maybe just take some Sukiyaki to go!

#Food #Thai #ThaiExpress #Flavor #NewYears